Monday, August 12, 2013

Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Loved the Bomb"

Stanley Kubrick's "Dr.
Strangelove: Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Loved the Bomb" is a bitter
satire in black comedy form. Paranoid Brigadier Jack D. Ripper of the US Army commands
his officers to drop a nuclear bomb on Russian soil as he feels that the
communists are hatching a sinister plot to destroy the bodily fluids of
Americans by fluoridizing water. Despite many efforts to recall those planes by
executive officer Lionel Mandrake and US President Merkin Muffley, actions move
ahead once set in motion. The world teeters in the brink of nuclear holocaust. Despite
the gloomy ambience of the story, Kubrick successfully manages to introduce
comedy and is able to make his actors perform their best. Noted comedian Peter
Sellers plays three roles in the movie, each with equal conviction. George C. Scottas General Buck Turgidson, Sterling Haydenas Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, and Slim Pickensas Major T. J. Kong among others portray the lunacy of
arms race and the inherent foolishness of hawkish army men. Kubric holds the
notion "nuclear deterrence" into question and mercilessly
deconstructs it. A must-watch movie.